Latest / The Becket Cook Show / Marries a Man–Meets Christ–Divorces Man: Jay Dios Testimony
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Life Audio.
- 0:09Speaker 2: You are listening to The Becket Cook Show with your
- 0:11Speaker 2: host Beckett Cook. For more information about Beckett and his ministry,
- 0:16Speaker 2: visit his website at Beckettcook dot com. To help support
- 0:21Speaker 2: the podcast, visit Patreon dot com slash the Beckett Cook Show.
- 0:26Speaker 2: Please consider subscribing to the podcast and leaving a five
- 0:30Speaker 2: star rating.
- 0:38Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to the show today. I have a
- 0:40Speaker 1: special guest, Jay Dios, and he has an amazing story
- 0:43Speaker 1: of God rescuing him out of a life of homosexuality.
- 0:48Speaker 1: And he was actually he's a young guy and he
- 0:51Speaker 1: was actually married to a man, and then when he
- 0:55Speaker 1: came back to the Lord, he divorced fat man. Praise God.
- 1:00Speaker 1: So I'm excited to hear his story. It's fascinating. But
- 1:04Speaker 1: first award from our sponsor, Please welcome Jay Dios.
- 1:09Speaker 3: Thank you. Beckett is an honor to be on.
- 1:12Speaker 1: It's so glad to have you and I I want
- 1:15Speaker 1: to get into your story. It's it's kind of amazing.
- 1:20Speaker 1: But let's start with, of course, your childhood. You say
- 1:23Speaker 1: that you were raised in a United Methodist home. Now
- 1:28Speaker 1: and you were faith in a faith filled United United
- 1:31Speaker 1: Methodist home. Was this United Methodist church conservative or was it?
- 1:36Speaker 1: Because there are a lot of United Methodist churches that
- 1:39Speaker 1: are like completely wacko, but you're conservative.
- 1:44Speaker 3: Yeah, So it honestly tugs out my heart where the
- 1:49Speaker 3: United Methodist Church ultimately went and their compromise. So the
- 1:56Speaker 3: United Methodist churches that I attended were conservative from a
- 2:01Speaker 3: theological perspective, Praise God. And actually they are not a
- 2:06Speaker 3: part of the United Methodist Church anymore. They had split
- 2:11Speaker 3: off into their own during that time too.
- 2:17Speaker 2: Uh.
- 2:19Speaker 3: The teaching that I grew up with was very much
- 2:23Speaker 3: conservative principles and theology and a view of a Bible,
- 2:27Speaker 3: view of the Bible. And so thankfully I was exposed
- 2:32Speaker 3: to those kinds of truths as I was growing up.
- 2:36Speaker 1: Okay, good, because there's a there's a Hollywood United Methodist
- 2:40Speaker 1: church right near me and it's, uh, it has like
- 2:43Speaker 1: rainbow flags on it and stuff. So I wanted to
- 2:46Speaker 1: check on that. And you grew up in in North Atlanta, yes,
- 2:52Speaker 1: and so.
- 2:54Speaker 3: What when? So?
- 2:55Speaker 1: And then you had you say you had early exposure
- 2:58Speaker 1: to pornography at a childhood sleepover. How did that affect you?
- 3:04Speaker 3: Yeah? And one thing as I've gotten older that just
- 3:10Speaker 3: really has been on my heart is parents really be
- 3:14Speaker 3: careful with who you entrust your kids with in a
- 3:20Speaker 3: sleepover situation. I can't say I'm honestly a big fan
- 3:24Speaker 3: of them, just because you hear so many heartbreaking stories
- 3:28Speaker 3: that come out of them. Unfortunately, but in my particular case,
- 3:35Speaker 3: I remember I was at a birthday party with some
- 3:41Speaker 3: friends of mine. It was probably fifth or sixth grade,
- 3:46Speaker 3: and there was really limited chaperoning, but there were some
- 3:53Speaker 3: older siblings and their friends that essentially thought it would
- 3:56Speaker 3: be really funny to kind of record like a reaction
- 4:00Speaker 3: video of them showing us pornographic material. And up until
- 4:07Speaker 3: that point I really hadn't had any kind of exposure
- 4:12Speaker 3: to that level, Praise God, but I remember the video
- 4:18Speaker 3: being very shocking to me. It ended up actually being
- 4:26Speaker 3: two women in the video, and so that was also
- 4:30Speaker 3: kind of like an initial shock to me that, oh wow,
- 4:33Speaker 3: this is like two people of the same sex engaging
- 4:36Speaker 3: in this behavior. And unfortunately, as shocking as it was,
- 4:42Speaker 3: I don't think I had the tools to really process it,
- 4:47Speaker 3: and ultimately it sparked like a darkness and curiosity in
- 4:52Speaker 3: me that would lead to pornography use and masturbation when
- 4:58Speaker 3: I was young. So and it deeply affected me.
- 5:02Speaker 1: And then you say you came out at when you
- 5:05Speaker 1: were eleven years old. What was the reaction from your parents?
- 5:12Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember being very nervous because there was a
- 5:17Speaker 3: level of just understanding that this was not okay, especially
- 5:26Speaker 3: growing up in a conservative church where I did. I
- 5:31Speaker 3: was aware of the stance, but also it's something scary
- 5:37Speaker 3: to bring up to your parents and realize. So I
- 5:41Speaker 3: remember actually like handing my mom a phone. This is
- 5:45Speaker 3: back when there were layingline telephones. I remember handing my
- 5:49Speaker 3: mom a phone and then going out into the garage
- 5:53Speaker 3: and then telling her, Mom, I think I'm homosexual, And
- 6:01Speaker 3: her reaction to me disclosing that information to her was
- 6:06Speaker 3: very emotional, like she was very shocked. I do have
- 6:12Speaker 3: a younger brother, and he had demonstrated a little bit
- 6:16Speaker 3: more of like a feminine side than me at this point,
- 6:20Speaker 3: and so I think it was very shocking to hear
- 6:24Speaker 3: it from me and disclosing this to her. And then
- 6:29Speaker 3: I don't think my dad was actually home. He came later,
- 6:32Speaker 3: and then my mom was like, Hey, you've got to
- 6:35Speaker 3: You've got to talk to your dad and let him know.
- 6:38Speaker 1: And how did so, how did you kind of deal
- 6:40Speaker 1: with this internal thing, this battle with regards to your faith,
- 6:47Speaker 1: with regards to you growing up in the Christian church
- 6:50Speaker 1: and the home and everything. So how did you how
- 6:53Speaker 1: did you see it in terms of that?
- 6:56Speaker 3: Yeah, not as well as I wish I did. So
- 7:01Speaker 3: it was it was kind of a mix of feelings
- 7:06Speaker 3: of knowing that it was wrong, but also actively seeking
- 7:12Speaker 3: out some kind of affirmation that this would be okay
- 7:16Speaker 3: and reconciling this. I know, in high school and I
- 7:23Speaker 3: went to a public high school, I started to meet
- 7:27Speaker 3: a lot more people that were friendly to the idea
- 7:32Speaker 3: of gay being a valid identity. And I had never
- 7:37Speaker 3: experienced that before, and so I think I was attracted
- 7:41Speaker 3: to that level of acceptance that was being presented. But then,
- 7:47Speaker 3: as I had mentioned, like I was also struggling with
- 7:50Speaker 3: lust as a teenager looking at pornographic material that was
- 7:59Speaker 3: homosexual and sure, and then also just I grew up
- 8:06Speaker 3: United Methodists, and I was United Methodists through high school
- 8:11Speaker 3: as well, and I was actually a musically gifted student,
- 8:16Speaker 3: and so like I played cello and tuba in my
- 8:19Speaker 3: church's orchestra, and so I was a part of the
- 8:22Speaker 3: music ministry. But for me, faith was like more routine.
- 8:28Speaker 3: I didn't really read God's word on a regular basis.
- 8:33Speaker 3: I wasn't as entrenched in it as I should have been.
- 8:38Speaker 3: And because of that, I think the enemy really took
- 8:41Speaker 3: advantage of me in that fragile state.
- 8:45Speaker 1: Yeah, and so you you say that you when you
- 8:47Speaker 1: went away, when you went to college, did you did
- 8:50Speaker 1: you deconstruct your faith because you were exposed to liberalism?
- 8:54Speaker 1: And what happened to your faith in college?
- 8:58Speaker 3: Yeah? So college was tough for me. It was the
- 9:06Speaker 3: first time that I had actually experienced a level of
- 9:12Speaker 3: animosity towards the Christian worldview, because growing up I was
- 9:16Speaker 3: very much around Christians, and I was shocked at just
- 9:25Speaker 3: kind of the negative comments towards Christianity, but then also
- 9:30Speaker 3: this propping up of a secular humanist worldview. Combining with that,
- 9:38Speaker 3: I also was struggling a lot with reconciling why do
- 9:43Speaker 3: I believe what I believe? Is there like another option?
- 9:49Speaker 3: How much of what my parents were telling me was
- 9:51Speaker 3: true or how much of that was just like because
- 9:54Speaker 3: I was raised in this way. And so the saving
- 9:59Speaker 3: gri here is I knew I needed to find a
- 10:02Speaker 3: church and I actually one of my best friends, I
- 10:05Speaker 3: was like Hey, I've heard really great things about this
- 10:07Speaker 3: church Connection Church. I think you should check it out
- 10:12Speaker 3: with me. And so, fortunately, like I still felt like
- 10:16Speaker 3: on my heart that I needed to be on Sundays
- 10:21Speaker 3: in a church building and worshiping the Lord. But at
- 10:26Speaker 3: the same time, I'm like, Lord, I deeply am struggling,
- 10:30Speaker 3: and I need you to reveal yourself to me in
- 10:34Speaker 3: light of all that I'm trying to navigate through here
- 10:37Speaker 3: in college. And so I really went on a journey
- 10:41Speaker 3: of understanding the difference between subjective truth and objective truth,
- 10:48Speaker 3: and ultimately the spirit of truth will lead you into
- 10:51Speaker 3: all truth, Praise God. And so a lot of things
- 10:55Speaker 3: clicked for me, particularly when Pastor Brandon had preached a sermon.
- 11:01Speaker 3: It's one of those sermons where it feels like there's
- 11:04Speaker 3: nobody else in the room and it's just the pastor
- 11:08Speaker 3: speaking to you, And I remember my heart was racing
- 11:12Speaker 3: so fast because every word that he was saying was
- 11:16Speaker 3: just resonating so deeply with my soul. And ultimately it
- 11:23Speaker 3: clicked for me. I realized that a lot of the
- 11:26Speaker 3: spiritual warfare around me is on truth and ultimately on
- 11:30Speaker 3: the things of God, the character of God, the holiness
- 11:33Speaker 3: of God. And so in that moment, I knew that
- 11:37Speaker 3: God's word was true and I ended up standing up
- 11:40Speaker 3: for an alter call at that time.
- 11:43Speaker 1: So we'll be right back after this short break.
- 11:46Speaker 3: Wow.
- 11:47Speaker 1: And so but then you started to but then you
- 11:55Speaker 1: started to read books like Matthew Vine's books and God
- 11:58Speaker 1: in Gay Christian in Matthew Vines. I mean, I'm sure
- 12:01Speaker 1: everyone knows this by now, but if you don't know,
- 12:04Speaker 1: Matthew Vines is a gay affirming quote unquote Christian and
- 12:09Speaker 1: he wrote a book called God and Gay Christian and
- 12:13Speaker 1: he tries to argue that homosexual behavior is not a sin.
- 12:17Speaker 1: But so, why so after this experience with Pastor Brandon
- 12:21Speaker 1: and his sermon, why did you then go into this
- 12:26Speaker 1: world of like Matthew Vines.
- 12:30Speaker 3: Yeah. So, I think in desperation of my truth seeking,
- 12:36Speaker 3: I didn't do a whole lot of Bible reading, so
- 12:40Speaker 3: and I was really seeking out a lot of different voices,
- 12:46Speaker 3: particularly on the conservative politic angle. But also I had
- 12:52Speaker 3: like this deep sense of wanting to reconcile this identity. Ultimately,
- 12:59Speaker 3: I was to see this identity that I believed that
- 13:01Speaker 3: I was, which was gay right and my faith and
- 13:06Speaker 3: so ultimately, like I had come across Matthew Vines's book,
- 13:13Speaker 3: and at that time reading it, I think I had
- 13:18Speaker 3: because I wasn't directly in the word of God, I
- 13:21Speaker 3: became deeply influenced by the arguments he was making and
- 13:25Speaker 3: I was like, oh, there might be actually a pathway
- 13:29Speaker 3: for this to be true. And so ultimately, at that time,
- 13:36Speaker 3: I think I was dealing so much with understanding the
- 13:42Speaker 3: truth of God and how he was revealing himself to me,
- 13:46Speaker 3: but still holding on to this false identity and desperately
- 13:51Speaker 3: seeking some kind of reconciliation for that truth. And so
- 13:55Speaker 3: unfortunately I didn't come to that reconciliation, and it really
- 14:04Speaker 3: impacted me in the next years that would follow in
- 14:10Speaker 3: my faith, like the way that I describe it as
- 14:13Speaker 3: like I believe God's word was true, but in this
- 14:16Speaker 3: area it was too hard for me to accept. And
- 14:19Speaker 3: there's a difference between Jason saying that Jesus is Lord
- 14:24Speaker 3: of your life and then just believing that he is
- 14:29Speaker 3: the Son of God.
- 14:29Speaker 1: So right, and so you ended up meeting a guy
- 14:35Speaker 1: named Matthew, not Matthew Vines, but a guy named Matthew
- 14:38Speaker 1: or matt and and you guys, you ended up getting married.
- 14:44Speaker 3: Right, is this that's right? Yes, yep, and so go ahead.
- 14:52Speaker 3: I was just gonna say so. Throughout my early twenties
- 14:55Speaker 3: after college, I did eight several other men during that
- 15:03Speaker 3: time period, and ultimately, what I was finding is I
- 15:07Speaker 3: was seeking another Christian man. And what I was finding
- 15:12Speaker 3: is a lot of the times when we get on
- 15:15Speaker 3: the topics of the Lord and who he was in Christianity,
- 15:20Speaker 3: that was always really a tough subject that would come up,
- 15:24Speaker 3: and ultimately the relationship would fizzle out. So things changed
- 15:30Speaker 3: a little bit with Matthew.
- 15:33Speaker 1: So and then how did you decide to actually go
- 15:36Speaker 1: through with I mean, that's a pretty strong commitment to
- 15:40Speaker 1: get married, Like, how did that happen?
- 15:44Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot there. Ultimately, what I would say
- 15:51Speaker 3: is there were there were a lot of good elements
- 15:54Speaker 3: of Matthew and I's relationship, Like we had of friendship
- 16:00Speaker 3: that was very similar to David and Jonathan, and we
- 16:05Speaker 3: desperately wanted to pursue the Lord. In fact, I recall
- 16:09Speaker 3: on our first date, we were saying, if we ever
- 16:11Speaker 3: reach a point where we are in conflict with our
- 16:15Speaker 3: relationship with God, we must encourage each other to pursue
- 16:21Speaker 3: the Lord, and so with that there were a lot
- 16:27Speaker 3: of great elements in that relationship in the pursuit of God,
- 16:31Speaker 3: but this area in particular, the Enemy used to pervert
- 16:38Speaker 3: the institution of marriage and ultimately our identity. And so
- 16:45Speaker 3: because we both were still subscribing to this being our identity,
- 16:51Speaker 3: that was a very big stronghold for us to break.
- 16:55Speaker 3: And so with that, I think we were a chasing
- 17:02Speaker 3: this relationship and all of the benefits that we might
- 17:06Speaker 3: be receiving in this world, or we were perceiving to
- 17:11Speaker 3: be receiving in this world, while also not pursuing the
- 17:17Speaker 3: Lord and being involved in faith community in the way
- 17:19Speaker 3: that we should have been. In fact, in a lot
- 17:23Speaker 3: of ways, the irony of this is when Matthew and
- 17:28Speaker 3: I got married and I started to spend a lot
- 17:34Speaker 3: of time in the Word of God, in listening to
- 17:38Speaker 3: the Lord and praying to the Lord and going back
- 17:40Speaker 3: to church. That was ultimately what the Lord transformed my
- 17:45Speaker 3: identity in and deeply impacted the mayoral union that we
- 17:52Speaker 3: perceived that we had. So during that time, it's just
- 17:56Speaker 3: a mix of not investing ourselves the way that we
- 17:59Speaker 3: should have in pursuit of the Lord, and then also
- 18:01Speaker 3: holding on to a false identity.
- 18:03Speaker 1: And how long were you married to him?
- 18:07Speaker 3: So we got married in September of twenty twenty two,
- 18:15Speaker 3: and then our divorce had finalized, although in Louisiana there's
- 18:22Speaker 3: a very long cooling off period as they call it.
- 18:26Speaker 3: And our divorce finalized in July of twenty twenty five.
- 18:30Speaker 3: But up until that point we had been living apart
- 18:33Speaker 3: for like eight or nine months.
- 18:34Speaker 1: So and who initiated the divorce? Was it you who
- 18:38Speaker 1: initiated it?
- 18:40Speaker 3: It was me? Yes?
- 18:41Speaker 1: And was he shocked by this?
- 18:45Speaker 3: So a big component of the journey that ultimately we
- 18:50Speaker 3: went on is in twenty twenty four, around February of
- 18:57Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, I had actually revealed to him that
- 19:01Speaker 3: I was feeling conflict of identity and that I believe
- 19:05Speaker 3: that we were living in a house of cards and
- 19:09Speaker 3: not on a firm foundation in Christ. And so during
- 19:13Speaker 3: that time I said, I really want to pray about this,
- 19:20Speaker 3: speak to different leaders and voices, and really leave no
- 19:25Speaker 3: stone unturn, and praise God that Matt ultimately was agreeable
- 19:31Speaker 3: to go on that journey rather than reacting overly negative
- 19:36Speaker 3: to that information. And so ultimately we had met with
- 19:44Speaker 3: a variety of different voices, and at as that was occurring,
- 19:49Speaker 3: I started to notice a pretty big split in where
- 19:55Speaker 3: we were theologically aligning from an identity perspective. In fact,
- 20:01Speaker 3: actually ironically, but also beautifully, the Lord gave me such
- 20:06Speaker 3: a great appreciation for marriage through this process and how
- 20:11Speaker 3: He's beautifully designed it between one man and one woman.
- 20:17Speaker 3: And so he was shocked, I think at the news,
- 20:21Speaker 3: and I think something that breaks my heart as I
- 20:24Speaker 3: do recall him, like praying desperately in the middle of
- 20:28Speaker 3: the night for the Lord not to take me away
- 20:30Speaker 3: from him. But when you're living outside God's will for
- 20:34Speaker 3: your life, ultimately that that prayer was not answered and
- 20:41Speaker 3: there was deliverance there. And did your parents?
- 20:46Speaker 1: Did your parents attend the wedding?
- 20:48Speaker 3: They initially they did. And I'm glad that you brought
- 20:51Speaker 3: that up, Beckett, because the wedding, as I reflect back,
- 21:00Speaker 3: is a really difficult moment for me to reconcile, because
- 21:05Speaker 3: I believe that I did a lot of damage to
- 21:10Speaker 3: people I love's faith by standing up on that altar
- 21:15Speaker 3: and proclaiming something that was not true. And thankfully the
- 21:23Speaker 3: Lord has redeemed that moment and the way that I describe.
- 21:27Speaker 3: It is like at the wedding there were different chapters
- 21:32Speaker 3: of my life all together, but unfortunately they were celebrating
- 21:38Speaker 3: sin ultimately being conducted. But I ended up getting baptized
- 21:47Speaker 3: this past year in October, and God beautifully redeemed that
- 21:51Speaker 3: because then again people from all different chapters of my
- 21:56Speaker 3: life were there to witness the freedom and delivering. It's
- 22:00Speaker 3: not only the Holy Spirit can bring about, and so
- 22:03Speaker 3: in a lot of ways, that redeemed that situation.
- 22:07Speaker 1: So, yes, good, And so we talk about because you
- 22:11Speaker 1: were just before we started recording you, you were talking
- 22:14Speaker 1: about I think you met Matthew Vines in person, and
- 22:19Speaker 1: I think you were with matt and you, he says,
- 22:23Speaker 1: because in his button and God and the gay Christian,
- 22:25Speaker 1: one of his big arguments is you know, you shall
- 22:28Speaker 1: know them by their fruit, and if their fruit is good,
- 22:31Speaker 1: then it's all good. So talk about what he said
- 22:34Speaker 1: to you and then what your reaction was later on
- 22:37Speaker 1: the plane back home.
- 22:39Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. And if your audience hasn't picked up
- 22:42Speaker 3: on it already, like the Lord uses the name Matthew
- 22:45Speaker 3: very profoundly in your life dirty of faith, Yes he
- 22:51Speaker 3: still does. So with that, uh, Matthew Vines makes several
- 22:59Speaker 3: different arguments, and he's incredibly articulate. However, it was very
- 23:06Speaker 3: clear to me when I met him in person and
- 23:11Speaker 3: he allowed me to have a conversation really with him theologically,
- 23:16Speaker 3: face to face on this particular sin issue. There were
- 23:23Speaker 3: a lot of like branch issues that ultimately you could
- 23:29Speaker 3: get stuck debating on, but it's going to come to
- 23:31Speaker 3: the root, and the root of it is related to
- 23:37Speaker 3: living according to God's word, in obeying his word and
- 23:42Speaker 3: what that means. And so one of Matthew's primary arguments
- 23:47Speaker 3: is that coming from Matthew seven, is that you can
- 23:51Speaker 3: essentially judge a tree by his fruit or in the
- 23:54Speaker 3: context he was talking about teachers, but he relates it
- 23:59Speaker 3: to Galatian in the fruit of the Spirit, and what
- 24:03Speaker 3: he was saying is essentially, what fruit of the spirit
- 24:09Speaker 3: do you violate by staying in a loving covenantal same
- 24:15Speaker 3: sex marriage with Matt my former spouse Matt And at
- 24:21Speaker 3: the time, I actually did not have an answer for him,
- 24:27Speaker 3: and so I told him, I said, hey, I've got
- 24:30Speaker 3: to pray about this. I'm not sure. And as I
- 24:35Speaker 3: was going back home and on the plane, the Lord
- 24:41Speaker 3: just beautifully clicked that last puzzle piece in place, and
- 24:46Speaker 3: I realized that the fruit of the spirit that I
- 24:48Speaker 3: was violating the most was faithfulness. Faithfulness in two ways.
- 24:54Speaker 3: The first is I was not being faithful to God.
- 24:58Speaker 3: Jesus says that if you love me, you will obey
- 25:01Speaker 3: my commands. Yeah, and so the most important relationship that
- 25:05Speaker 3: I will ever have, I was not being faithful to
- 25:09Speaker 3: the Lord. But then also I was not being faithful
- 25:14Speaker 3: to Matthew because I was leading him down a path
- 25:18Speaker 3: of destruction and not in living in God's best And
- 25:23Speaker 3: so ironically it was reading Matthew Vines's book that led
- 25:28Speaker 3: me down this path of affirming theology. But it was
- 25:33Speaker 3: a question that Matthew Vines had asked me that ultimately
- 25:39Speaker 3: clicked it into place for me of how the Lord
- 25:43Speaker 3: was going to work to restore my identity in him.
- 25:46Speaker 3: So it's really beautiful how that worked out.
- 25:50Speaker 1: That's amazing God. Yeah, I love how God works and moves.
- 25:55Speaker 1: And now you're your identity is reclaimed. You're at I
- 26:00Speaker 1: think Louis Giglio's church right passion Passion. Yes, I've been
- 26:04Speaker 1: there one time. I was there for a well, I
- 26:07Speaker 1: will I will say what I was there for because
- 26:09Speaker 1: it's very controversial now, but I was there for a
- 26:12Speaker 1: memorial service anyway. Okay, But so tell us what, so
- 26:17Speaker 1: what is your life like now? What are you doing
- 26:21Speaker 1: now with your you know, your story, what are you
- 26:24Speaker 1: doing in general? Like, tell us what's happening and tell
- 26:26Speaker 1: us what it's like, what your relationship is like with God.
- 26:29Speaker 3: Now you're from Dallas, aren't you? Originally? Okay, So we
- 26:35Speaker 3: were just there for Passion twenty twenty six. I was
- 26:40Speaker 3: actually a captain for snacks and coffee for our door
- 26:45Speaker 3: doorholders and those who are not familiar with Passion. It
- 26:48Speaker 3: is a Christian conference. We had forty five thousand college
- 26:54Speaker 3: aid students eighteen to twenty five years of age coming
- 26:57Speaker 3: to worship the Lord and listened to amazing speakers and
- 27:02Speaker 3: then ultimately the theme was about sending out arrows, going
- 27:08Speaker 3: back to their spheres of influence and then speaking boldly
- 27:12Speaker 3: for Christ and being the light of the world that
- 27:15Speaker 3: Christ calls us to be. So Passion City Church is
- 27:20Speaker 3: the church branch of the Passion movement. We've got three
- 27:25Speaker 3: campuses in Atlanta and one in DC, and Passion City
- 27:29Speaker 3: Church has been just an incredible home and community to me.
- 27:35Speaker 3: It's one of the biggest blessings that the Lord has
- 27:39Speaker 3: provided in my life. There are so many brothers and
- 27:42Speaker 3: sisters of Christ there that have locked arms with me
- 27:46Speaker 3: and walked with me through some of the most difficult
- 27:49Speaker 3: moments through my faith journey. But ultimately with that I
- 27:55Speaker 3: am serving as part of our experience in hosting team.
- 28:01Speaker 3: I am also in a connect group. Ironically, my connect
- 28:04Speaker 3: Group leader's name is Matthew Yes, and so I get
- 28:11Speaker 3: to lock arms with brothers. Iron sharpens iron, and the
- 28:17Speaker 3: Lord is really restored so much from like a relationship
- 28:23Speaker 3: aspect in my life, both with just amazing people living
- 28:29Speaker 3: out boldly for Christ, but also faithful teachers that are
- 28:33Speaker 3: going to speak truth boldly and make sure that ultimately
- 28:39Speaker 3: we are becoming more and more like Christ through the
- 28:43Speaker 3: process of sanctification. So I'm living my best life like
- 28:47Speaker 3: that's the best way to describe it. Like, I am
- 28:50Speaker 3: so grateful for what the Lord has done.
- 28:54Speaker 1: What would you say, because I mean you've probably heard
- 28:56Speaker 1: me answer this question, but I cause I get I
- 28:59Speaker 1: talk about it all the time. It's in my book, uh,
- 29:03Speaker 1: you know, because people used to ask me when I
- 29:05Speaker 1: get first got saved, you know, is it an isn't
- 29:08Speaker 1: it unfair that you don't get to, you know, have
- 29:10Speaker 1: a boyfriend or a husband or whatever. So what would
- 29:14Speaker 1: you say to people about that?
- 29:17Speaker 3: Is it?
- 29:17Speaker 1: How do you feel about that question?
- 29:20Speaker 3: Yeah, so, I think in a lot of ways, our
- 29:25Speaker 3: culture especially loves to idolize that romantic love, and it
- 29:33Speaker 3: love is a very beautiful thing. What I have accepted
- 29:38Speaker 3: in my heart is that I want to live God's
- 29:42Speaker 3: will for my life. I want to let the spirit lead,
- 29:46Speaker 3: and so ultimately, if it is in God's will, and
- 29:50Speaker 3: actually I do pray that it is that I find
- 29:54Speaker 3: a wife and build a family together, then beautiful, like
- 29:58Speaker 3: that's amazing. But also if the Lord has the work
- 30:02Speaker 3: paved out for me for his purposes as a single man,
- 30:07Speaker 3: it says in one Timothy sixty six, godliness with contentment
- 30:12Speaker 3: is great gain. And I feel that living with the Lord,
- 30:17Speaker 3: with him leading, is the biggest blessing, the greatest fulfillment,
- 30:21Speaker 3: because it's not just this earth that I get to
- 30:24Speaker 3: look forward to, but it is eternity with Him, and
- 30:27Speaker 3: that is the greatest relationship that you could ever have.
- 30:32Speaker 1: Well, we're going to leave it there because you mentioned eternity,
- 30:35Speaker 1: and that's a good place to leave it. I just
- 30:38Speaker 1: love that. Yeah, eternal life is kind of a big deal.
- 30:42Speaker 1: I always say so. It's it's amazing. But let's leave
- 30:45Speaker 1: it there. And thank you so much Jay for telling
- 30:49Speaker 1: your story. And I hope that guys who are watching
- 30:55Speaker 1: or women who are watching who are kind of stuck
- 30:57Speaker 1: in that world will hear this and it'll spark something
- 31:02Speaker 1: in them. And God, will you know, convict them. The
- 31:06Speaker 1: Holy Spirit will convict them and they will come fully
- 31:10Speaker 1: under the authority and of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
- 31:14Speaker 1: thank you so much, thank you for coming on.
- 31:16Speaker 3: I appreciate it absolutely, Beckett. It's an honor. Praise God.
- 31:24Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to this episode of The Beckett
- 31:27Speaker 2: Cook Show. Your support makes this content possible. All episodes
- 31:32Speaker 2: of The Becket Cook Show are also available on YouTube.
- 31:36Speaker 2: For more information about Beckett and his ministry, visit his
- 31:39Speaker 2: website at Beckettcook dot com.
- 31:43Speaker 1: Thank you to the team at Life Audio for their
- 31:45Speaker 1: partnership with us. If you go to lifeaudio dot com,
- 31:48Speaker 1: you will find more faith centered podcasts about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
- 31:52Speaker 1: and more.